In our research, we frequently see people describe a longing for their childhood -- a time when life was supposedly simpler and filled with fewer responsibilities. (James had such an experience himself yesterday, when he spotted a package of Mallo Cups at a grocery story near his home in Phoenix. Suddenly, he was 10 years old again).

I just finished Homesickness: An American History by Susan J. Matt. In this book, she conflates homesickness and nostalgia, which she persuasively argues are highly related concepts. As Matt defines it, homesickness is a longing for a certain feeling. It is the idea of home -- not necessarily a literal home -- that people long for.

Some interesting points from the book:

Nostalgia is hardly a 21st Century phenomenon. Matt has studied correspondence from settlers, soldiers, and immigrants going back to the 19th Century and finds that homesickness/nostalgia were prevalent even then. If it’s not a human universal, it is at least very common.

During the Civil War, physicians considered nostalgia to be a dangerous illness that was capable of causing death.

People feel particularly intense longings for branded products – especially when people have been deprived of easy access to those products. This explains why certain brands (like Mallo Cups!) can take on deeply personal meanings.

Organizations including the YMCA, the Welcome Wagon, and various fraternal and ethnic organizations were born of a need to “cure” nostalgia.

Technology now makes it possible for us to connect to family and old friends very easily over long distances. The author wonders about the long-term psychological effects of this newfound ability to never leave the past behind, no matter where we may live.